All day while we’re awake we think about how we can get more of the finest coffee beans on the planet, roast them to perfection and get them to your doorstep in our special air tight bags.

Then while we sleep we dream about these beans being brewed to perfection at your home.
Whether your morning coffee is a bold espresso blend, your afternoon coffee is a strong medium roast or your evening coffee is a Columbian decaf or whatever your preference is…how you brew your coffee matters

It matters a lot!

Life wine, coffee is complex. There are many many things that can impact the taste.

Because of this, many people are intimidated by the process to make truly great coffee. Or they just throw some grinds into their brewer and call it a day.

But making great coffee is easier than you think. You just need to know some of the best practices and techniques.

The time it would take you to microwave a quick breakfast is the same amount of time it takes to make the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

And perfectly brewed coffee doesn’t need to come from a fancy coffee shop, it can come right from your own kitchen!

We made this guidebook to help teach you how to brew the absolute best cup of coffee.

We didn’t want to skip out on any of the important details so we created what we think is the only guide you or anyone would ever need to make the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.

But it’s a beast. Over 2,000 words!

Because there are so many aspects to making the best cup of coffee and to make it easier to consume the content, we’ve broken it up into chapters.

This will make it easier to navigate.

We used our own experience and knowledge as well as scoured the internet for the best information on each section and topic.

Understanding how each of these factors are interrelated to the final product can help troubleshoot and fine tune the brewing process.

If you follow these rules and this advice you are virtually guaranteeing a satisfying cup of coffee every time.

Table of Contents:

Section 1: The Beans

The Finest Coffee Beans

Specialty Coffee Standards

How to Properly Store Coffee Beans

Keeping an Air Tight Seal

Lack of Contact

No Pre-Ground Coffee

Section 2: Preparation

Measuring Your Coffee

Measuring Coffee With a Scale

Which Coffee Scale to Get

Measuring Coffee Without a Scale

What Coffee Grinder to Use

How to Grind Coffee

The Right Water

The Water Ratios

Section 3: Brewing

The Temperature

The Filter

The Pour

Pour Over

French Press

Espresso

Cafe Americano

Cold Brew

Timing

Section 4: Clean Up

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Section 1: The Beans

The Finest Coffee Beans

Let’s start with the obvious to get it out of the way. If you don’t start with great coffee beans all else is pointless.

We at Tap Dancer’s offer the world’s finest coffee beans so if you’re looking to make great coffee at home…you’re in the right place.

We take great pride in this claim, and back it up with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

We only offer specialty grade coffee, here’s what that means.

Specialty coffee beans are grown in select altitudes and climates and nursed for years before the first harvest. Specialty coffee producers devote their life to refining and perfecting the highest quality coffee on the planet. For them, it is quality, not quantity that is the most important consideration.

Specialty grade beans are 100% organic, fair-trade, low in acidity and not inherently bitter so it is easy to concentrate solely on flavor.

Specialty coffee producers take great pride on providing these beans.

In the coffee world, like fine wine or steaks, Specialty Coffee Beans are the best of the best.

Specialty Coffee Standards

To be considered specialty grade coffee they must adhere to strict standards.

To meet the criteria of specialty grade, green coffee can have zero category one defects and five or less category two defects.

You can see the SCAA green grading handbook for more information on these defects.

Measuring Coffee With a Scale

Measuring Coffee Without a Scale

What Grinder to Use

How to Grind Coffee

As long as you have the right equipment, grinding coffee is more about your preferred brewing method.

Coarse, Medium, and Fine are used for various brewing methods to get the best flavor possible.

Coarse – Chunky, distinct particles.

Medium – More the texture of coarse sand.

Fine – Smooth. Feels like sugar or salt when you rub it between your fingers.

Super Fine – Very fine but you can still feel some grit.

Turkish Grind – Like flour, very powdery.

A Coarse Grind is generally used for the following:

French Press

Toddy Makers

Vacuum Coffee Maker

Percolater

A Medium Grind:

Auto Drip Makers (with flat bottom filters)

A Fine Grind:

Stove Top Espresso Pots

Some Drip Makers (with cone shaped filters)

A Super Fine Grind:

Espresso Machines

A Turkish Grind:

For Turkish Style Coffee

The Water Quality

Water? Yes, even the water matters!

The taste of coffee is affected by the mineral content of the water that you use.

In fact scientists who were doing research on coffee (how fun is that job) found that the differences of water composition made a “dramatic difference” to coffee made from the same bean. Certain types of water hardness boosted the taste.

So what do you do? Use filtered water.

Besides not having a pleasant taste, water from the tap has minerals that will create mineral build up in your brewer. This build up will weaken the brewer’s heating ability to get the water to the proper temperature.

I personally prefer distilled water but again I tend to go to extremes.

According to researchers, the best cup of coffee should be made with water that is high in magnesium and low in bicarbonate.

Brewing

To be scientific about it, brewing coffee is the process of extracting the soluble and some insoluble components of ground coffee into an aqueous solution. (how’s that for fancy definition).
Brewed coffee is the result of strength (coffee mass) and extraction (soluble yield or coffee mass suspended in liquid).

Brewed coffee is around 98.8% water combined with 1.5% coffee flavor particles.

There are several factors that will affect the extraction process. As we already discussed, the coffee / water ratio, grind particle size, contact time, and water temperature.

The most important feature of all of them is to get the water to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Too cold of a temperature and the coffee becomes bitter, too hot and the coffee becomes sour.

Get as close to 200 degrees fahrenheit as possible, but we understand that that is a very precise temp, so just try and stay in the range between 195 F (91 C) and 205 F (96 C). The closer to 200 F the better.

Boiling water (212 F – 100 C) should never be used. It will burn your coffee.

Note: If you bought the $30.00 coffee brewer you can be assured that it is not getting the water hot enough.

At home we use a Technivorm-Moccamaster. There are no bells or whistles on this brewer…..it simple gets the water to 200 degrees.

Timing

The Coffee Filter

If given a choice, it’s better to choose white paper filters over brown ones. Remember how we said coffee will absorb many things it comes in contact with, yep even the filter paper. Brown filters can make the coffee taste more like the paper.

Pouring

If you’re investing in specialty grade coffee beans, you need to know how to use them.

Because it’s easier to control the temperature with all the pour over methods, that is the main reason they work so well and why so many coffee purists prefer them.

Pour Over

The pour over is a simple and elegant way to prepare your specialty coffee. It doesn’t require much equipment and delivers delicious, honest flavors when done right.

Espresso

Water is forced through finely packed coffee grounds to produce a small amount of concentrate.

Cold Brew

Roughly ground seeds brewed in cold water for 12-24 hours. Final product is a highly caffeinated drink served cold.

Cleaning Your Equipment

The last step to making the perfect cup coffee is clean up. It’s important to do this properly so that you help keep both the longevity of the brewers and it will help to keep getting great flavor of each cup you make at home.

So that’s it! See, not so bad. Follow these steps and you’re guaranteed to have the best cup of coffee you’ve ever made. And the great part is that now that you’ve brewed it once, you can make it over and over again.